I have a 3.5 year old large breed dog (100 lbs) who licks the floor, drools, gags slightly (like a cough..not retching), and paces. No vomiting. She is drinking, eating and pooping normally. We feed her 3 meals a day, 6:30 am, 5:30pm and 10:30pm, she is a healthy weight. She had done this previously but sick bouts were few and far between, now they occur almost every night.
We have taken her to the vet who says she thinks it is nausea and acid reflux. We gave her 1 tab Pepcid AC in morning (as directed) for a week and she was non-symptomatic and then after stopping 4 days later became symptomatic again. So asper the vet's instructions we gave her 2 Pepcid tabs 1 in the morning and 1 at night for 2 weeks...again non-symptomatic. We stopped it on Tuesday and she is now symptomatic again on Friday...My vet originally said we would start with blood and stool samples and then an ultrasound if needed. The last time we talked (prior to the second round of Pepcid AC) she went directly to a $500 x-ray and basically said even after $1000s in testing we may not know what is going on. This was not comforting.
My dog is active and behaves normally otherwise. We adopted her about 1.5 years ago and the last owner says she was non-symptomatic with him. I have heard though that at her previous owners house she would eat things off the floor frequently. Full disclosure: we do also take her swimming both up north and in the city, she has her regular shots but nothing extra.
Can anyone help... I need a second opinion. I don't think it is healthy to keep her on and off Pepcid for a prolonged period of time.
Thanks!